[REL][Client] PA:T | More Pew Pew

This client-side effect mod serves two purposes. One is to make all the vanilla effects - which are sometimes a bit hard to see - really bright and colorful. I also want it to be easy to determine what is shooting you if all you can see is the projectile trails. The result is a mod that changes all ballistic weapons to have brighter, more lasery, more pewy effects.

This mod is for PA:Titans. It doesn't completely break if you use it for classic, but you may get some inconsistencies. You can get the classic version here.

Here is a bit of a look at what the mod does, details follow:

(Note that this video is not entirely up to date, but it is close enough)

Color is used to signify damage/threat. Damage levels are arranged as follows:

red < orange < green < blue < violet

Please note that this is only a guide, and although it is usually true that a unit with a red projectile will do less damage than one with a green one, colors are used more to make unit projectiles unique and easy to identify. The hope is that with a bit of practice you will always know what units are firing at a glance.

can you also change the ubercannon effect from the commander and vanguard differentiating them?

Click to expand...

I will think about it.

I noticed you also commented on my youtube videos, so I will summarise those comments here:Pelter: maintrail should be a bit thinner imo
I concur, but the change will probably be small and harder to notice

Sniper: hmmm ... something is missing here .. but not sure what ...
I am not sure either. *shrugs* something may come to mind later I guess. Let me know if you think about anything.

Narwhal: personaly not quite satisfied with this one ... but still good ..
Anything particular that you don't like about it? I put a bit less effort in this one than I have the others. Is it the fact that it is green? xD

Bolo: yea not a fan of the green coloring and the shoots are just too big ...
Unfortunately, I realllly like the green xD, but I can make it a bit smaller, so I will give that a go.

Orca: yupp ... hit the nail with that one
Thanks! The video version is a bit outdated, I hope you like the in-game ones even more!

for the sniper bots it might be interesting to make the muzzle flash a bit over the top to compensate for the simple beam (which is nessesary to be simple) Maybe a gauss ring with a bigger flash so that it shows that it is firing a very high velocity protectile

for the sniper bots it might be interesting to make the muzzle flash a bit over the top to compensate for the simple beam (which is nessesary to be simple) Maybe a gauss ring with a bigger flash so that it shows that it is firing a very high velocity protectile

Click to expand...

+1. Also due to the slow rate of fire, is it potentially possible to have a *build up* effect for the sniper (so for a couple of seconds before the shot actually fires a glow accumulates around the gun to show a large energy build up)? It might not be possible but just a thought.

for the sniper bots it might be interesting to make the muzzle flash a bit over the top to compensate for the simple beam (which is nessesary to be simple) Maybe a gauss ring with a bigger flash so that it shows that it is firing a very high velocity protectile

Click to expand...

+1. Also due to the slow rate of fire, is it potentially possible to have a *build up* effect for the sniper (so for a couple of seconds before the shot actually fires a glow accumulates around the gun to show a large energy build up)? It might not be possible but just a thought.

Click to expand...

Well, there is no about-to-fire event, just the fired event. So I can only do some flashy charge-down cycle at the end.

for the sniper bots it might be interesting to make the muzzle flash a bit over the top to compensate for the simple beam (which is nessesary to be simple) Maybe a gauss ring with a bigger flash so that it shows that it is firing a very high velocity protectile

Click to expand...

+1. Also due to the slow rate of fire, is it potentially possible to have a *build up* effect for the sniper (so for a couple of seconds before the shot actually fires a glow accumulates around the gun to show a large energy build up)? It might not be possible but just a thought.

Click to expand...

Well, there is no about-to-fire event, just the fired event. So I can only do some flashy charge-down cycle at the end.

Click to expand...

To be honest that could work as well, especially as you can have long life particles now). It would mean that the 'charging' effect only occurs after the first shot (although I doubt anyone would notice).

I guess what you'd have to do is using the 'fired' event, create a subtle glow that grows over time until the gun fires again- it would give the impression it's charging up (even though it's technically a post fire effect)?

for the sniper bots it might be interesting to make the muzzle flash a bit over the top to compensate for the simple beam (which is nessesary to be simple) Maybe a gauss ring with a bigger flash so that it shows that it is firing a very high velocity protectile

Click to expand...

+1. Also due to the slow rate of fire, is it potentially possible to have a *build up* effect for the sniper (so for a couple of seconds before the shot actually fires a glow accumulates around the gun to show a large energy build up)? It might not be possible but just a thought.

Click to expand...

Well, there is no about-to-fire event, just the fired event. So I can only do some flashy charge-down cycle at the end.

Click to expand...

To be honest that could work as well, especially as you can have long life particles now). It would mean that the 'charging' effect only occurs after the first shot (although I doubt anyone would notice).

I guess what you'd have to do is using the 'fired' event, create a subtle glow that grows over time until the gun fires again- it would give the impression it's charging up (even though it's technically a post fire effect)?

Click to expand...

I can cheat, by making a charge effect that lasts four seconds. That way it will look good when the unit is firing as often as it can. But that will look odd when the unit is firing only some of the time.

why would it look odd? if the animation stops at 4 seconds tan when the last shot is fired the anim will still stop after 4 seconds. leaving the sniper bot without particles but all charged up. It's a matter of perspective how you look at it

It charges up before firing, but does it have to be fired right away? or can the sniper bot charge up, hold the charge and release it at will.

Think a bit about lore in regards to the units. How do they work. what machinery and mechanisms do units use. It will make comming up with effects and how they should look a bit easier

Yeah @dom314 I think that could work well, if you have time any chance to test it out?

Also didn't Uber just add the 'infinite' particle lifetime option by setting the time to -1? Could you create a particle effect that is permanent until cleared (with the 'clear particle' option being at the start of the firing effect)? That way the sniper would walk around with it's weapon primed and ready to fire when nothing is in range which could look nice

That's just it, there is no way to use another event to clear the particle, so if I used the infinite lifetime emitter thingy it would just stack on the more a bot fired. What I can do however is a charge effect that right before the end seems to go 'silent' before shooting. Kinda like a bomb that does an implode, pauses for dramatic effect, and then explodes again.

That's just it, there is no way to use another event to clear the particle, so if I used the infinite lifetime emitter thingy it would just stack on the more a bot fired. What I can do however is a charge effect that right before the end seems to go 'silent' before shooting. Kinda like a bomb that does an implode, pauses for dramatic effect, and then explodes again.

Click to expand...

Ah nice, that should work

Sounds like a couple more functions could be nice though... @bgolus, @jables any chance of a pre fire effect trigger and possibly a 'clear effect' function for the particle system to accompany the nice new infinite particle option?

Effects spawned via the events are fire and forget; they don't really know what they are after they've been created.
Effects spawned via the fx_offsets are tracked and enabled / disabled by the state they are hooked to. That plus killOnDeactivate would let you use infinite particle lifespans.
However, there's no pre-fire state to hook to that the client knows of.

Also, infinite lifespans crash beams right now ... and infinite lifespans aren't actually infinite, they just last for a few billion years.

- ben golus Uber DevDisclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the individual posting and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Uber Entertainment, my parents, or my imaginary friends.

Effects spawned via the events are fire and forget; they don't really know what they are after they've been created.
Effects spawned via the fx_offsets are tracked and enabled / disabled by the state they are hooked to. That plus killOnDeactivate would let you use infinite particle lifespans.
However, there's no pre-fire state to hook to that the client knows of.

Also, infinite lifespans crash beams right now ... and infinite lifespans aren't actually infinite, they just last for a few billion years.

Click to expand...

Well we're proposing creating a particle effect for the gun muzzle that builds up and stays put until the gun fires, so the lifetime particle wouldn't be applied to the beam effect, so does that mean it should work?

Muzzle flashes are events, so they'd just stack up and there's no state to hook to for fx_offset related to weapons firing to fake "charging". It's plausible if the weapon used ammo (the blue bar), but the sniper does not, and there's not currently anything setup on the effects system to hook to that.

- ben golus Uber DevDisclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the individual posting and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Uber Entertainment, my parents, or my imaginary friends.